iPhone cable pulled from local stores after one overheated

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»Play VideoThe black iPhone cable that was pulled from The Mac Store after one overheated.

LAKE OWSEGO, Ore. – A cable to charge new generation iPhones and iPads was pulled from store shelves after one of them overheated. But an employee at the Lake Oswego company selling the product thinks the company isn’t going far enough to protect the public.

We went to The Mac Store in Beaverton to try and buy the cable in question. A sales rep told us it’s no longer available because of a design problem.

The cable was an off brand, and was black instead of the typical Apple white.

A Mac Store employee who emailed us said, “The cable is defective. It melts and catches fire.” The employee asked to remain anonymous.

He said there were “multiple incidents” and is worried that management isn’t taking the problem seriously enough.

He shared an internal email from a vice president to employees:

“Please do not overreact to this. If it starts happening all the time we will just send them all back,” the email said.

The Mac Store is owed by Computer Stores Northwest of Lake Oswego. It also sells tech equipment through its other branches: Powermax.com and Bodelin Technologies.

We asked CEO Kevin Anderson for an interview but he declined to go on camera.

He did, however, provide an email statement saying his store only received one cable that overheated. Anderson also disputed the claim that the cable caught fire.

“We investigated that particular cable and worked with the manufacturer and ultimately decided to pull them from our shelves despite the fact it was an isolated problem,” Anderson said.

A rep for the cable manufacturer said they only had problems reported with one cable. The Mac Store is offering a full refund for people who bought the cable they pulled from shelves.

KATU engineer Dan MacDonald said that any wire can short out, but said to ensure you’re getting a quality iPhone charger you should look for the “MFI” logo. MFI stands for “made for iPhone (or iPad and iPod).”